The woman who accused BJP leader Chinmayanand of rape has been sent to 14-day judicial custody after she was arrested on charges of extortion.
The 23-year-old woman’s family told NDTV that she was dragged out of their home by the police “almost by force” and without her slippers, while her father said he was forced to sign an arrest “memo”.
According to News18, she was to be produced before a court in the extortion case, after a medical examination.
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The case has been filed by Chinmayanand’s lawyer on his behalf.
The woman’s plea for bail has been denied by a local court, NDTV reported.
On Tuesday, her counsel Anoop Trivedi told reporters, “It is a big relief for us as our plea has been admitted,” PTI quoted. Her initial plea had been rejected by the court on Monday.
She was, however, questioned by the special investigation team (SIT) set up by the Uttar Pradesh police under the directions of the Supreme Court.
The woman, a law student, has alleged she was raped and physically exploited by Chinmayanand for over a year.
Chinmayanand was arrested in Shahjahanpur on September 20 and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
During interrogation, the politician confessed to making the woman give him “massages” and said he was ashamed.
He has been booked under section 376C of the IPC, which is usually applied in cases where a person abuses his position to “induce or seduce” a woman under his charge to have “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”.
This is a lesser charge than section 376, under which a rape convict faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The punishment under section 376C is between five and 10 years in jail.
He was also booked under sections 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The woman said that the police were trying to weaken the case against the ruling party politician.
“There is no justice. I already told the (police) in details how I was raped and yet he has not been charged with rape. This has played out exactly as I feared. I do not know what the planning is behind Chinmayanand’s arrest. I have nothing to with the extortion case,” she told NDTV earlier.
(With PTI inputs)